


Solace [10]

by LunaEchelon



Series: Tommy and Dani [10]
Category: Isaac Carpenter (Musician), Tommy Ratliff (Musician)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-26
Updated: 2011-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-28 04:54:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/303951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaEchelon/pseuds/LunaEchelon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tommy Joe is having nightmares</p>
            </blockquote>





	Solace [10]

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not know or own TOMMY JOE RATLIFF or any of THE GLAM TROUPE in part or whole. They do not know of my fan fiction (to the best of my knowledge). Everything written (unless otherwise stated) is fiction and has not happened and probably will not happen. How characters are portrayed may not be indicative of their actual personalities. Take everything with a pinch of salt. Any similarities between this fic and your life are a complete coincidence and should not be read into. In other words ITS NOT REAL!

_The floor was slick with a layer of blood and he crawled on all fours as he added to the blood...pouring from his stomach. He never ended; the blood never stopped. He could see Dani just ahead of him but she was always blocked by Ali.... her face was terrifying. She had lived, only nobody knew how and that wasn't really what you could call living. Her jaw had been blown clean off by the shot; misjudged completely and utterly by her own stupidity._

 _Her eyes bulged as she knelt in front of him and tried to kiss him but all she succeeded in doing was devouring his whole head with her open jaw._

 __

 _He could hear Dani calling his name desperately; her voice was muffled by the saliva, blood, flesh and bone surrounding his head and he opened his mouth to scream...._

 

“TJ...!”

“What the?” he woke with a start and realised quickly he was soaked with sweat, Dani's hands were on his shoulders; kneading slowly and carefully. He brushed his hair back off his face and groaned. The nightmare was always the same; he could deal with those it was the flashbacks he couldn't stomach. Dreams weren't real, dreams were the brain trying to put 2 and 2 together and making 300. The flashbacks were real and he couldn't stop looking at her face; time seemed to stop as he looked into her eyes and he realised she was still alive.

Ali had lived, as had he. Only he couldn't call her life living any more; he pitied her and felt sorry for her but he had no sympathy for the woman who now had to “face” years of re-constructive surgery that would maybe allow her to talk again. Right now she was fed through a tube directly into her stomach, her face; or what was left of it, was wrapped in wet wraps and bandages. Her eyes were hollow and cold and no longer really saw anything of the world around her. She was kept in a secure room in a specialist hospital and was kept company 24 hours a day 7 days a week by two nurses and two security officers, she was visited once every two days by a doctor and a plastics specialist. Her surgery marathon had started three days after the shooting.

Tommy Joe thought about how time had flown so fast; it had been three months already and she was still getting press coverage yet they had forgotten about the real victims – Dani and himself; although he tried his best not to see himself as a victim and just as a survivor.

Dani had seemed to recover quickly although she never liked to talk about the incident with him. She had said it was because it obviously upset him and she never wanted for them to hurt each other again. She had told him over and over the same words she had spoken when he thought he was dying and it still didn't seem like it was real. The fact they were now engaged was even more of a gobsmack than anything else. Married? Tommy Joe? He had never pictured himself as a wife and three kids kinda guy but apparently it was how things were turning out.

Their sex life had dwindled to nothing and as much as Tommy Joe hated to admit it he was very sexually driven. Dani didn't seem to mind so much but he was damned sure if he jerked himself off any more the friction would cause a fire or he would be admitted to hospital with repetitive strain injury and a broken dick.

 

“Are you OK baby?”  
“Yeah, bad dreams again.”

“Those tablets don't seem to be helping.”

“Because those tablets went down the drain after two weeks. The fuckers stopped me getting hard and then....apparently....when I could get hard....you were too tired.”

Tommy Joe wasn't sure how the subject had switched and he knew he was just doing it to avoid talking about him but he couldn't stop. He had so much shit running through his head and Dani wouldn't talk about it that it spilled out randomly and at the very worst of times.

 

“Pardon?”

“Euch...” Tommy Joe rubbed his eyes “Forget it, I don't know where that came from.”

“Yeah.... you seem to be forgetting where shit comes from a lot recently.”

“And what's that supposed to mean?”

“You seem to spill a lot of words out into a coherent sentence...and then forget why you said it or where it formed in your train of thought.”

“I have a lot of stuff going on up there.... it's hard to keep track. I'm thinking of installing a filing system of some sort....” the humour went past Dani and sailed out the window into the darkness of the night.

“Look... I am sorry. The dreams don't make things any easier and no amount of tablets is gonna stop them. I don't do tablets...you know you have to brow beat me into taking pain killers when I'm hung over!”

Dani nodded “Yeah, I know....come back to bed.” Tommy Joe had stood and was pacing the cold wooden floor.

“Yeah gimme a sec.” he headed to the bathroom to give his lieutenant a dishonourable discharch.

 

~~

 

Tommy Joe once more awoke with a start; his skin was cold and clammy and his head was pounding – he wasn't completely sure what he had been dreaming about but he took a fair guess it involved a certain jawless woman.

Feeling the bed next to him, it was cold and the sheets were pulled back. Listening carefully there was complete silence in the apartment and he wondered what he had missed.

The clock beside his bed was flashing with four zero's meaning the power had, at some point, gone off for at least 30 minutes.

“Dani?” he called out but there was no reply. Climbing from the bed he placed his feet on the cold floor and shivered. He dressed quickly and headed out into the living area; the lights were off and the blinds open – it was raining again and Tommy Joe sighed running his hands through his hair.

He made coffee and sat in front of the TV, clicking the remote control he slouched and gave in to daytime television.

 

~~

 

Dani's heels clicked the floor as she walked briskly down the corridor towards the end room. It was sealed behind a large locked double door that was always manned by two security guards who signed everyone in and out. Anyone would think there was a horde of mass murders behind these doors when in fact it was a maimed woman.

Dani once more signed her name on the chart with the time in and nodded to the security guards as one unlocked the door and the other stood watching her as if she was here to break the woman out.

 

Through another set of doors and to the left was a large set of glass doors she could see the nurses, the security and she heard the camera's moving to watch her walk down that corridor too; the glass door was opened from the inside by a nurse and she was led towards the bed where the woman was laying.

 

Next to Ali's left hand was a small screen with a keypad. She wouldn't be able to speak for a while if ever again so she typed and the computer spoke for her.

 

Dani sat in the designated chair and smiled before stopping herself. Ali shook her head and for the first time since this whole thing started, her eyes sparkled and Dani could swear she was smiling too.

 

“How did the surgery go?” Dani asked.

There was clicking as Ali typed with her left hand and then she looked at Dani.

“I have a jaw now, and teeth. I have part of my tongue and my voice box is still intact.” The voice was female but was in stops and starts. It reminded Dani of Stephen Hawking's voice only much higher.

“That's good news sweetheart...I'm so sorry this turned out the way it has.” Dani sobbed into a tissue that was handed to her by a nurse.

 

“Not your fault. I didn't know there were bullets in the gun. I thought they were blanks.” it had been a story that Ali's lawyer had said would surely help her case; she had never used a gun before and the man who had sold it to her – who had conveniently disappeared – had assured her the bullets were dummies and were just for effect.

 

“I know sis.... I know you'd never do this.”

 

“I'm sorry I slept with him.”

 

“Don't lie.... he's damned good in bed!” Dani laughed but her heart sank as she remembered Tommy Joe cheating on her. Ali had managed to record the whole thing on her phone; the sound at least. Her instructions from Dani were to find out if he was cheating and if she was unsure she was to push until she could find out if he would. The question had been answered after three bottles of Jack Daniels and a lot of suggestion from Ali.

 

“He is....” Ali typed and swallowed. Her eyes winced; she was still in pain from her last surgery. Her legs ached and itched all at the same time; skin grafts had been taken from her thigh's and buttocks. The skin would be applied within the next couple of weeks. If the skin didn't take they were hoping for a facial donor although Ali knew that would mean somebody's else's death just so she could look part normal.

 

Dani made the effort to try and give Ali updates on her life and what was going on but deep down she was hiding how much the sight of her sister repulsed her right now and she couldn't even start on how she felt about Tommy Joe and what came to mind when she looked at him. She couldn't remember the last time they'd had sex and the thought made her nauseas; but how could she tell him that?

 

“I'm sorry Miss....”

“Wellin” Dani offered

“It's time for you to go now.”

“Oh, I'm sorry I didn't realise the time.” she turned to Ali “I'll be back next week.” she smiled and leant over kissing her sister on the forehead.

Walking back down the endless corridors Dani realised she couldn't go back to Tommy Joe's apartment and she wasn't sure if she ever could again.

 

~~

 

Tommy Joe checked the clock on the TV and let out a sigh. His pizza had only succeeded in going cold because his stomach had turned at the thought of eating anything at all and he had done for a bottle of Vodka, only the cheap whiskey remained.

 

Dani had called and had told him she was going back to her place. She had spent so much time away she had forgotten what it looked like and she had suspected there was a lot of cleaning to do. Tommy Joe had been OK with it but once he was sure she had hung up he had sat and cried; all he wanted was for Dani to hold him and tell him everything would go back to normal but every time he felt or saw his scar he knew that would never happen and he knew the mental scars went much deeper.

 

Tommy Joe found himself dialling a number that had become second nature to him.

 

“Dude!”

“Hey. Wanna have a jam session?”

“It's like.... 11PM Teej.”

Tommy Joe sighed “I know, I don't wanna sleep and I'm lonely!”

Isaac sighed “OK gimme a few minutes to get over there OK?”

“Deal....and bring alcohol. I have cheap shit left.”

“What about that big ass bottle of vodka?”

“Uuuuuhhhmmm... about that....”

There was a sigh “Shit Teej. OK...”

 

A click as the phone disconnected and Tommy Joe almost dropped his phone onto the glass table in front of him.

 

Tommy Joe closed his eyes for just a second....

 

~~

 

Dani sat on the floor; her back lent against her apartment door. She felt closed in in her small space. It was half the size of Tommy Joe's apartment and she had so much shit stacked around the place that it had become a small labyrinth.

Slowly she stood and seeing herself in the mirror; her hair now long and lank, her eyes dark with something evil behind them. She screamed and watched as her forked tongue flicked out. The mirror shattered and Dani kicked at the nearest pile sending china, glass and metal flying.

She worked around the room knocking everything to the floor; treading on the broken artwork, the shattered glasses and bowls – she tore down the framed paintings on the wall and pulled apart the wood using one of the longer sides to smash out the mirror above her fireplace.

 

The fireplace. Matches. Paper. Glass. She had white spirit somewhere.

 

Dani piled everything into the fireplace that would burn or melt and sprayed it with cooking oil, vodka and peroxide. Scratching a match along the box she threw it into the fire and then slowly she threw into it each match; lighting them one after another.

 

Walking back over broken glass, cutting her feet she made her way to her bedroom and found her bed. She laid down and closed her eyes.

 

*

 

Dani's eyes opened and she stretched on the bed. Coughing she winced as her feet stung. She turned on the bed and crossed her legs in a lotus position; she pulled the broken glass out of the flesh on the soles of her feet and dropped it to the floor.

 

Her apartment was a mess but the fireplace was empty; looking to her left the mirror was intact – as was all of her painting and the china, the glass, the metal. The only broken piece was a bowl and she could see where she had stood on it and walked back to her bedroom.

 

~~

 

...Just for a second turned into an hour and Tommy Joe was woken by the buzzer to his apartment.

 

“Fuck!”

Clicking the button “Hello?”

“Teej, open up dude it's fucking freezing!”

“Well you shoulda worn a shirt!” Tommy Joe pressed the now fixed door release button and then opened his apartment door just as Isaac stepped through.

“Damn Isaac did you run up those stairs?”

“Meh-bee!”

“You been drinking?”

“Meh-bee!”

“Yup....hand it over... I'm still rather sober and that's just not right!”

 

Isaac produced a very large bottle of Jack Daniels and a carrier holding Dissorono, a cheap wine that he'd never seen before and a new red vodka mix.

It was only then that Tommy Joe realised that his shirt comment had been right on; Isaac was completely topless and was only in tight jeans, trainers and a bandanna.

 

“Where is your shirt?”

“Couldn't be bothered to wear one!”

“OK!”

“Let's have a shirt free Saturday!”

 

Tommy Joe looked at his reset clock, it was indeed Saturday; he shrugged and pulled off his own shirt. He was completely fine with his scar around Isaac because unlike Dani he didn't stare at it or talk to it instead of Tommy Joe – unless in complete drunken fun making, at which point he had named the scar Bobby for no other reason than that was the name that was in Isaac's head at the time.

Tommy Joe opened the Jack and swigged from the bottle “Good shit!”

 

“No shit talkin' on shirtless Saturday!”

“OK... you wanna jam?”

“You got drums?”

“Through there....” Tommy Joe pointed at a third door.

“I always wondered what the hell was in there.”

 

The door didn't creak as Isaac opened it and cracked open a beer that he had stashed in Tommy Joe's fridge two weeks ago; he wasn't about to tell him about the other 11 in there too.

 

“Where the hell did you get that?”

“Magic on shirtless Saturday.”

“Is this an official thing now? Shirtless Saturday?”

“Yup it goes hand in hand with Sexy Saturday and Slutty Sunday!”

 

~~

 

Dani glugged the contents of the bottle and pressed send on her phone before glugging again and typing out a second message.

 

~~

 

Tommy Joe's phone trilled just after he had finished jacking off his bass.

 

“Damn you're good dude – you made your phone cum!”

“Nah was your phat beats on yo dumb dumb drum!!”

“Duuuuuude nooo!”

 

Tommy Joe had found the beer and it always sent him funny drunk. Even the message on his phone didn't sober him – he had seen it coming and he had completely reconciled the fact that everything he wanted had gone down the pan and the only person to blame was Ali; yet he couldn't find himself hating her – he was just repulsed.

 

“Dani dumped me. No wedding.”

“Well you always have Bobby and me!”

“Bobby? Can we rename my scars please?”

“Bill and Ben!”

“That'll do.... what is it with you and the letter B?”

“Not just B... I like J too!”

“Oh really!”

 

Tommy Joe, in his drunken haze stood and watched a drunken Isaac hammer away on his drums and wondered if he was the same in bed.

 

“Yeah....” Isaac paused drumming “Really!” he winked.

“How much you like those two letters?” Tommy Joe slumped beside Isaac on his stool and giggled.

“Alot...” he twisted so his crotch was directly in Tommy Joe's face.

“So do I....” Tommy Joe returned the wink.

“You wanna go into your bedroom?” Isaac was reading his mind. Tommy Joe wasn't sure where this was coming from; maybe it was just the booze and tomorrow they'd realise this was a big mistake – but still he couldn't get out of his mind the make out session they'd had just before the shooting during a game of truth or dare at Adam's birthday. It had been caught on camera but what people couldn't see was the tent in Tommy Joe's pants when it was happening. Isaac had noticed.

 

“No... here is just fine.” Tommy Joe replied.

Isaac all but lunged at Tommy Joe from his position on the stool; throwing his drum sticks to the floor in the process.

 

~~

 

Dani writhed on the floor holding her stomach; the pain was intense - she hadn't banked on it being so bad for so long.

She screamed in agony and threw up large clots of blood; she was sure as her eyes blurred in and out of focus that it was parts of her intestines and stomach.

She drew in a last breath as everything went black.

 

~~

 

Shirtless Saturday had swiftly turned into pantless Saturday too. Isaac's hands had worked quickly making sure Tommy Joe was naked within minutes.

 

He was sat on one of his larger amps with his back to the wall. Isaac had equally as fast hooked up the stereo to the amp Tommy Joe was sat on and had turned it up as loud as they could stand; playing whatever tunes were in Isaac's “Phat Bass” playlist.

 

The amp vibrated beneath Tommy Joe and only served to help Isaac getting him hard – it seemed liked Isaac had planned this.

“What about your clothes?” Tommy Joe groaned when Isaac's hand gripped his manhood.

“Uh-uh... this is all about you …. tonight.”

 

Tommy Joe leaned his head back against the wall and gripped the edge of the amp.

It seemed like Isaac had done this before; his tongue licked along Tommy Joe's length before he took him whole – covering his teeth with his lips and making sure he never grazed skin.

 

Tommy Joe's moans were drowned out by the music and the vibrations through the amp were doing something else altogether as Isaac continued to suck on his dick.

 

Everything from the last few months seemed to slip away and as the sensations Isaac was giving him filtered through his body he found he couldn't even remember what Ali looked like before or after the shooting. Tommy Joe was sure nothing would ever have happened with Dani wedding-wise; not only was he not the kind of guy to settle and marry but Dani had a wild streak that would never tame and he knew she would end up self destructing or simply moving on from him.

 

Somehow; this way it was easier.

 

Tommy Joe's hands gripped Isaac's hair and his fists tightened with each suck, each lick, every flick of Isaac's tongue.

 

The music played a particularly bass-heavy track. Tommy Joe's body tightened, screaming nothing in particular when he came in Isaac's mouth.

 

Isaac swallowed hard around Tommy Joe until he was clean and then helped him down from the amp. Tommy Joe's lips fell onto Isaac's and their kiss was slow – mimicking the kiss from Adam's birthday.

 

“Now I want to go to bed....and sleep until Slutty Sunday.”

 

~~

 

Ali's eye flickered open; the light's were bright above her head.

 

“You're awake. Well Ali... I am here to bring you good news. Not only was your trial overturned on medical and psychiatric grounds. You will need to stay in a psychiatric hospital for roughly 18 to 24 months but once that is over, and you have agreed to weekly psychiatric sessions – paid for by the state – you are free to go.”

 

Ali blinked.

 

“Secondly... the doctor's stay your operation was a complete success, they had no clue it was going to go so well and they hope that by the time you are out of the psychiatric care of the hospital you won't even notice the scar. You may not be able to talk again but while under your care-plan you will learn sign language....Please blink if you understand my words.”

 

Ali blinked rapidly, tears forming in her eyes.

 

“Oh, you have mail. Your sister Dani sent you a letter.”

 

 _Dear Ali;_

 

 _I'm sorry that I could deliver this in person and I'm sorry that when I was in your company at the hospital I never could quite find the right words to say._

 

 _It's best that you know about me; the truth and how I thought of you. It will make it easier to forget me._

 

 _I'm disgusted that you actually went through with sleeping with TJ I never once thought you would do that to me... I thought you would stop short and just leave him thinking you were a prick tease – meaning he would come home to me...._

 

 _I don't believe for a second that you didn't realise that gun was loaded; I know you wanted me dead and I know you wanted him for yourself. You've always been twisted but for the sake of the fact you're my sister I stood up for you and said I was in on it and that I swapped the bullets._

 _I truly believe you wanted to kill yourself when you realised you had shot TJ. I remember the look on your face; the horror of what you had done and that you had killed what you wanted and not who you actually loathed._

 

 _I couldn't look at him after the shooting. I know he has his friends and he'll be just fine but you I worry about more. And myself._

 _I worry about my sanity. The things I keep seeing in myself, about myself. I'm not safe to be around but I can't go there... I can't do this._

 _At least some good will come from my demise. You will live a relatively normal life, you will be rehabilitated and you will go on in the world._

 _Without me but with me._

 

 _Dani._


End file.
